Can I just put Live Black Worms into my tank?

[rookie07]

I have a 34 gl 20" cube.
I have:
2 clowns
1 mandarin
2 Fire Fish
small 3 Dendro's
1 Duncan
medium colony Sun polyps
2 Fire shrimp
5 hermits
Can I just drop in a few live black worms and and not worry?
Will they all be eaten by my current livestock?
Can they become a problem?
I am clueless about black worms, and very curious.

Thanks
Rook

 

[NYAUX]

I've Used Them Once In Awhile As A Treat For My Fish In My 120. They Love Them

 

[House of Laughter]

make sure you rinse them first in tank water.

House

 

[tosiek]

Theres a post about this somewhere here and a bunch of them on RC.

From what i remember, bloodworms/blackworms don't have the nutritional value as some of the other frozen/live foods out there. As a snack or to get a non eating fish eating again they are good but as the main source of food for the fish think they are about the same maybe a little higher than throwing brine shrimp into your tank that have been sitting at the fish store for a few days.

 

[Bob 1000]

Don't they die almost immediately??? Why would you rinse them in tank water first????

 

[qckwzrd]

I feed my fish and corals blackworms once a month as well as brineshrimp. I guess you can soak it in selcon to give it some nutritional value.

 

[House of Laughter]

Not that I have observed - I rinse them every time and they squirm for quite some time before they are nibbled up.

House

Don't they die almost immediately??? Why would you rinse them in tank water first????

 

[aaron23]

you need to rinse them every few days and they wont die...

Don't they die almost immediately??? Why would you rinse them in tank water first????

 

[Bob 1000]

you need to rinse them every few days and they wont die...

That would be bloodworms as well, but not in salt water if you plan on keeping them longer and not feeding them to something soon after...

 

[basiab]

I hope you have an external supply of pods for your mandarin. Your tank is nont big enough to genrate a food supply for him especially with the other pod eaters you have.

 

[rookie07]

I have a fuge, and the mandarin eats mysis sometimes also.
I dont have the firefish yet, they come this weekend....They eat pods also?
I didnt know firefish eat pods. I thought they ate other things, like phytoplankton out of the water-aswell as meat,etc.

 

[ellebelle]

Most fish will eat pods. My female wrasse and my blenny pick at the rocks all of the time. I see my royal gramma doing it occasionally as well. My firefish and male wrasse rarely pick at the rocks, but all fish are different.

I've never heard of a fish that eats phytoplankton - I think the word you're looking for is zooplankton.

 

[Paul B]

Blackworms, one of my favorite topics. They should not be considered in the same catagory with adult brine shrimp which are nearly worthless as food. Live blackworms are one of the most nutritional foods you can feed to your fish. If you want to get your fish into breeding condition in a couple of weeks feed a few blackworms each day. Don't just feed blackworms or your fish may not eat anything else. They do have Omega 3 oils which fish need unlike feeding guppies which lack this important oil.
I have bred blue devils, clowns and cardinals after a couple of weeks of feeding blackworms. I keep a constant supply and have been feeding my fish them for over 40 years. Just drop them in a few at a time. They only live about 10 seconds in salt water. I use a baster looking thing to target feed the fish.
Have fun.
Paul

 

[charile1]

Where can one buy live blackworms?

 

[Paul B]

In Brooklyn you should be able to get them in any pet shop.
They are very common in queens or LI and always have been.
Sometimes they keep them in the fridge so you have to ask for them
Paul

 

[e.muehlbauer]

How about tubifex?

 

[Paul B]

Tubifex are skinnier and live in garbage troughs, I don't like to use them

 

[qckwzrd]

All my fish love blackworms, my gobies, wrasse and blenny to my south american lungfish and killie fish. My dendros and tubastrea loves them as well. Blackworms are much cleaner then tubiflex worms, just about all fish stores sell live blackworms.

 

[KathyC]

Just a few things to remember about blackworms if you're going to use them as a 'treat' for your fish...you want to keep any leftover in your fridge in a shallow plastic dish with a thin layer of dechlorinated tap water (your spouse will really appreciate this...lol). You also want to rinse them each day and change their water and don't feed dead blackworms to your fish.
Petland Discounts sells them by the 'portion' and ideally you'd like to buy them when they get in a new delivery of them so you know they are 'fresh'.

 

[rookie07]

Thanks Kathyc, perfect answer.......im guessing from your info that black worms should not be used as a meal? You used the term "treat".
I plan to buy just enough to feed the one time...not going to keep them in my fridge.

here is the deal...

I will be giving the mandarin away....If anyone wants him, they can have him, PM me. Otherwise im giving it to Jhale so it can enjoy his tank and get all kinds of fat.